Spring-armed utensils are common fixtures in every kitchen. They are most typically used to grasp items that may not be picked up by hand, for instance when the item is too hot for a hand to hold or it would be unsanitary to do so.
Such utensils are difficult to properly clean within the hinge joint. They are not intended to be disassembled and are thus undesirable for handling food since they provide many inaccessible crevices for food particles and bacteria to accumulate. Thus, when debris becomes trapped within the hinge of traditional spring-loaded utensils it is very difficult to remove and creates an unsanitary environment for food preparation.
It is also awkward to store spring-armed utensils when not in use. The arm span is widest when the utensils are at rest, which takes up excessive space when stored in a drawer or countertop canister. Spring-armed utensils cannot be easily disassembled or reassembled; therefore the arms are constantly in the widest open position unless force is exerted to keep them closed.
Many contemporary spring-armed utensils now have locking mechanisms to attempt to correct the storage problem, but the locks can cause more problems than they solve. Locking spring-armed utensils may either lock or unlock too easily or not easily enough when in use, which hampers the utensil's functionality more than the locks help with storage capacity. Such locks may also spring open when stored if not engaged properly, thus negating the spring lock's primary purpose.
Further, because of the constant opposing force exerted by spring-based hinges, the hinge-end elements within spring-arm designs are prone to wear and tear and many spring-arm locking mechanisms further accelerate wear to the hinge. Additionally, spring-arm utensils, with or without locks, can incorporate complicated hardware and excessive moving parts that add to manufacturing difficulty and expense.
For all the aforementioned reasons, existing spring-armed utensils are less than ideal for daily kitchen use. Ideally, the utensil hinge should be usable with one hand, without the need to worry about whether it is in a locked or unlocked position, should be easily stored without the nuisance of springing open while in rest, and should be easily cleaned for more sanitary food preparation.